Monday, February 13, 2012

I have been craving s'mores lately and Valentine's Day just happened to stumble upon my craving. This recipe is a simple chocolate chip cookie recipe (shaped in to hearts, of course) with the addition of a graham cracker crust, marshmallows & pink and red m&m's....I had to make the extra-giant heart-shaped cookie just for fun:-)And I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to combine my craving with a gift for my new office. Who doesn't love the new girl with sweet treats?So I packed these bright and yummy cookies in to individual packaging with a sweet note and brought them to work for that 2pm snack everyone looks forward to in the office.

Friday, February 3, 2012

A semi-homemade Whoopie Pie recipe decorated perfectly for hungry football fans. I used a traditional cake batter for the cookies but swapped in a simple store bought creamy vanilla frosting for the filling. Why? I've always had trouble finding a marshmellow filling that I liked and was easy to make - vanilla icing is my perfect solution.

By the way, interesting fact. Whoopie Pie's originate in either the Amish country of Pennsylvania or in New England. Nancy Baggett in her book "The All-American Cookie Book" gives an excellent account of their history. She tells us that they can be traced back to the depression era and the Berwick Cake Company of Boston was the first to start making them commercially (around 1926). Although we may never know who or how someone came up with these delicious cookies, the story is that one day a creative cook had leftover cake batter and decided to make large round cookies with it. When they turned out, the cook was heard to say "Whoopie!" "Pies."

{Super Bowl Whoopie Pie}

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cups cacao powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon of salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup strong coffee, lukewarm

1 cup creamy vanilla icing, store bought

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and place oven rack in the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cacao powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. In a bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg beating well. Beat in the vanilla extract.

4. In a small measuring cup, mix the buttermilk and coffee.

5. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture, coffee mixture and flour.

6. Drop heaping tablespoons of the batter onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. With moistened fingers or with the back of a spoon, smooth the tops of the cookies.

7. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.

8. Once cooled, take the store bought icing and smooth it in the insides of two cookies. Refrigerate for two hours.